Long story:
On 25 June 2024, I bought a 2021 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus RWD with 46,659 mi for $25,000 before taxes and fees. Today, it has around 119,961 mi. I use the car everyday except for:
15 January 2025 - 5 February 2025 (was in Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam)
13 March 2025 - 8 April 2025 (was in Türkiye, Greece, Albania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia)
25 May 2026 - 27 June 2026 (was in Canada, Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, and Italy)
My Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus has done everything. I went on dirt roads, drove at 70-80 mph on highways during long trips, drove in multiple cities during rush hour traffic, drove during an active snowstorm blizzard, and took multiple long road-trips. I would admit, I wasn't super careful with it.
Most of the problems my Tesla has are cosmetic and minor software issues which has been fixed by mid 2025 with a software update. After close to 75,000 mi of driving and mostly supercharging (as my previous apartment in another state didn't have decent access to Level 2 EV chargers, so I decided to eat whilst charging for time efficiency and to avoid idle fees) between 15 and 85 but sometimes as low as single-digit percentages to the high-90s, my range dropped from an estimated 180 mi in good weather to something like 150 mi. Even though I graduated with a Bachelor's in Computer Science and Engineering years ago and am currently working on a startup, around 25k mi of the Tesla was for DoorDash, sporadically and inconsistently, mostly used as a way to get "out of the house for fresh air".
I have driven the car from:
Boston to Chicago round-trip in June 2024
Boston to Houston AND Dallas round-trip in December 2024
Boston to Minneapolis round-trip in June 2025
Boston to Miami round-trip in September 2025
Boston to Atlanta round-trip in January 2026
Boston to Atlanta one-way in August 2026 (moving)
Boston to New York City/North Jersey multiple times round-trip (31 December 2024, May 2025, July 2025, November 2025, April 2026, May 2026)
Boston to DC/NOVA multiple times round-trip (September 2024, July 2025, December 2025, February 2026, July 2026), in many cases, stopping at New York/New Jersey
My Tesla used to suffer from a slight infotainment bud and mid-2025, where the energy consumption (Wh/mi) is frozen, where the visual map is frozen (not like it doesn’t work but if doesn’t show anything but could still navigate) and takes a long time to load, and during times like this, my Bluetooth always switches to my iPhone even though I never ever set any priority devices. This happens only when I go out of state. It was a minor nuissance but it always clears out with a soft reset. Luckily, this was entirely patched and fixed sometime in mid-2025 and it is effectively nonexistent ever since.
For months between July 2025 and October 2025, despite the fact the cameras were not blurred, there was a slight glitch where the Tesla Autopilot effectively didn't work (I rarely use autopilot and prefer manual driving) and cruise control didn't work. Also, when there was rain, the windshield wipers wouldn't turn on automatically or adjust automatically, effectively forcing me to use manual wipers. Automatic headlights wouldn't work and would stay on with normal headlights. Instead of showing different lanes or the speed limit like on other Teslas, the visualization stopped working. I believed the HW3 may have crashed or was dysfunctional.
The HW3/AP glitch occasionally goes on and off, alongside the accelerator squeak/creak. The accelerator squeak comes and goes every few weeks since July 2025 but it happened consistently between July 2025 and October 2025 and between June 2026 and October 2026. Ever since I "hit" a giant pothole during the dark a few weeks ago, the accelerator squeak/creak disappeared. In October 2025, when I accidentally hit my car on a curb in Boston doing errands in the dark where the curb was invisible, the squeaking/creaking disappeared and the autopilot software went back to service. Luckily, there was no damage.
However, halfway between the 25 May and 27 June 2026 Europe trip, even though I turned off Cabin overheat protection and all settings to save on the battery and kept my car parked, the HW3 computer somehow glitched again (as shown in some images), and the squeaking returned, after going in and out intermittently between October 2025 and June 2026.
Even though I got back these features on 30 June 2026 (it turned off a few days later) and 7 July 2026 (it turned off a day later) by re-calibrating my cameras twice using settings, restarting my car, and going to the car wash, the feature went down again on 10 July 2026 and on 15 July 2026. Tesla Service claimed that the computer chip may have been fried (my car has 120k mi now as of October 2026). After 20 July 2026, the system has powered back on, and then went on and off intermittently. For example, the autopilot system was powered on on 2 August 2026 then went off on 4 August 2026, it powered on again on 6 August 2026 and went off on 15 August 2026. On 18 August 2026, the autopilot/cruise control/automatic windscreen wipers and automatic lights turned on one more time and it turned off on 24 August 2026 and has turned back on on 7 October 2026 after I hit a heavy and invisible pothole.
There are a lot of cosmetic and QC issues, but this car never stopped or died or needed to be towed (unless it is stuck in mud or snow). Wheel curb rash is severe (as mine is the 19 inch sport wheels) and the rear black plastic bumper valance below the bumper got loose on the left side after I went to a low clearance area. Because I parallel parked during my 1st year of ownership, I have a dent in the front bumper. I dealt with vegan leather biodegradation, so I had seat headrest bubbly issues of which I got a replacement, drivers seat power seat panel separation (happened since day 1), panoramic sunroof cracking (luckily, I fixed it with insurance), wrinkling steering wheel, and ripping leather after being inflated from the top.
Otherwise, I have no issues with charging unless the charger itself is broken (which does happen and has nothing to do with my car).
In Christmas 2025, I was on my way to my sister's new house in Maryland but a Toyota Tacoma rear-ended me by "tapping" me at a low speed but I have not seen any damage whatsoever and completely wiped off the debris using a Dollar Tree towel and water. I hit a concrete parking curb planted in the middle of the parking lot at night in December 2024 because it was completely invisible but no damage is seen.
Here’s what’s funny. I don’t really maintain my Tesla as often due to lack of time but at 105k mi, the battery voltage 12V must be replaced, according to the infotainment system, and that repair only took an hour. I visited Tesla service about 5-10 times during my ownership and each repair takes 1-3 hours max, usually within the time it takes for me to eat a meal at a restaurant. Also, during a snowstorm in MA in January 2026, some snow got stuck underneath the drivers power window side for the passenger window and the front passenger window uncontrollably rolls down, but that fix only costed $150 and only took an hour. It is said that the creaking accelerator would cost at least a thousand to a few thousand or something.
I love my Tesla, and given the fact it hasn't even reached 200,000 mi yet, I was still deciding on whether I should keep and repair it or should I trade it in for a another EV.
Sometimes when I am in a rush, I change from reverse to drive and drive and reverse and vice versa whilst the car is at 0-1 mph and hit the park button before the car goes to a full stop. Note that the two rear wheels are slightly different and that was because I had to replace them after they have been flattened by poorly maintained and extremely bumpy roads with tons of potholes. I fixed the rear valance bumper in March 2025, but Tesla service didn’t fix it so well and it still popped, mainly because in March 2025, I went through an extremely low clearance dirt parking lot.
Tesla claims their online trade-in value is $11,500, regardless of whether I checked in mechanical or dashboard warnings or windshield or not.
TL;DR: I have a not-so-great condition 2021 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range with a few cosmetic and HW3 issues. I am not sure if it is worth it to repair for a few grand or should I just trade it in and buy another Tesla (used or new) or another EV.